My first hand account of the ongoing search for health and wellness through a conscious focus on nutrition, cooking, ingenuity, and physical exertion. As an active stay at home mother of two young children, I spend large portions of my day in my kitchen inventing new recipes and reinventing old favorites into fun, healthy and delicious meals my whole family loves... especially while on the run... literally.

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Vegetable Lasagna Pasta Toss

Vegetable Lasagna Pasta Toss

I had a package of ricotta cheese that needed to get eaten in the next week and being too lazy after a long vacation to cook a lasagna, or bake something with ricotta, I decided to incorporate it in an easy to throw together, use what you have in your pantry kind of dinner. Basically this includes many of the ingredients in a traditional vegetable lasagna, minus a bit of mozzarella cheese, but it is done on the stove in under 25 minutes. It is high in fiber due to the whole grain pasta, the beans and the fresh veggies, and high in protein because of the pasta, cheese and beans combined. So it is a warm, filling, satisfying and healthy way to feed a large family quickly.

Vegetable
Lasagna Pasta Toss

ingredients

1 lb.
organic whole wheat rigatoni

2 T. olive
oil

1 small red
onion, finely chopped

1 organic
red bell pepper, chopped

1 tsp.
dried Italian seasoning

1 tsp.
garlic powder

1/4 tsp.
ground cinnamon, optional

1 can
organic dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 jar of
organic tomato sauce (seasoned or plain)

15 oz.
organic ricotta cheese

Salt &
pepper

3 handfuls
of organic baby spinach

Parmesan
cheese

Fill a large pot with water
and set to boil. In a medium saucepan,
heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add
in the chopped onion and bell pepper and cook for about 5 – 10 minutes. Add in the Italian seasoning, garlic powder
and cinnamon and cook for a minute more.
Stir in the beans. Meanwhile,
cook the pasta according to package instructions. In the saucepan, pour in the tomato sauce and
stir to combine. Fold in the ricotta
cheese until blended thoroughly. Season
to taste with salt and pepper and continue to cook until heated through. When the pasta is finished cooking, add to
the sauce and toss in the spinach leaves.
Serve with Parmesan cheese, if desired.